They will listen with both ears to what is said by the men just a step or two ahead of them, who stand nearest to them, and within arm's reach. A guide ceases to be of any use when he strides so far ahead as to be hidden by the curvature of the earth.

Nature is full of by-ends. A moth feeds on a petal, in a moment the pollen caught on its breast will be wedding this blossom to another in the next county.

No gun is perfectly true. So the marksman, that he may hit the bull's-eye, points elsewhere.

Error held as truth has much the effect of truth. In politics and religion this fact upsets many confident predictions.

When we try to imagine a chaos we fail. ... In its very fiber the mind is an order and refuses to build a chaos.

Let truth be a banner big enough to hide the man who holds it up.

Degree is much: the whole Atlantic might be lukewarm and never boil us a potato.